Verizon is assessing damage and beginning to restore service to consumers, enterprise clients and government agencies after Hurricane Sandy's landfall Monday night (Oct. 29) along the southern New Jersey shore.

Despite massive flooding and the loss of commercial power in many locations, the company's networks are functioning well, with serious problems in lower Manhattan and stress in the greater New York metropolitan area. Verizon is delivering a significant amount of calls and providing Internet connectivity as people stay in touch during and after this historic storm.

Across the company's wireless, consumer and enterprise businesses, Verizon teams along the East Coast and in the Midwest are confronting a host of Sandy's effects - ranging from closed roads, high water, blizzard-like conditions and continued heavy rain and high winds, to downed trees and other debris - as they fan out to assess damage and bring back service for consumers and businesses.

For complete details on our efforts, as well as information on text-to-donate options in support of the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, cilck here. For regular updates on outages and service restoration efforts, please visit the following websites (each site is viewable via your mobile smartphone):

We have some exciting news for our FiOS TV customers in Southern California. As you may have heard over the weekend, we’ve been able to secure the rights to add two new channels to the FiOS TV lineup in your region: Time Warner Cable Sportsnet and Time Warner Cable Deportes. All of the sports fans in the area know that these channels are the new home for the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Galaxy and Los Angeles Sparks games.

Verizon is ready for Hurricane Sandy, and we want to make sure you are equally as prepared for this rare winter storm. Below are links to important resources to help you get ready for Sandy's potential arrival. For the most up-to-date news on our efforts, as well as emergency preparedness tips and advice, visit our Hurricane Sandy Community site. As always, Verizon.com/Outage is your main source for information in the event of a Verizon service outage.

Television has never been as good as it is today, and as an avid FiOS TV viewer, we know you’re looking to celebrate one of your favorite TV characters this Halloween. Flipping through the hundreds of channels FiOS currently offers yields so many great shows, but knowing which character to choose and how to put their costumes together can be intimidating. And, more importantly, will the other guests at the Halloween party even know who you are supposed to be? Don’t sweat it! Just make sure your costume captures the essence of your favorite character and your fellow fans will definitely get it (much like you "get" FiOS!) Here are a few of our favorite TV-inspired Halloween partiers that get it...

Great news! As some of you may have noticed, we have added Cartoon Network HD to your FiOS TV lineup. As of this morning, customers in all FiOS TV markets should see the new channel on the guide.

Found on FiOS TV channel 757, Cartoon Network features the best in original, acquired and classic entertainment for kids and families. The channel changes over to Adult Swim from 9 pm – 6 am, offering original and acquired animation and live action comedy.

As many Verizon at Home readers know, Verizon is a big believer in the consumer-empowering impact of the Borderless Lifestyle -- a life without the age-old barriers of time, location and distance that used to deny us the freedom of going online whenever we wanted. Today, with the anytime/anywhere connections available through our wired home -- broadband, in-home Wi-Fi, hotspots and 4G LTE wireless Internet services -- those days are history.

Borderless consumers are leveraging the power of our converged networks to erase those old technology boundaries to connect whenever they want and do whatever they wish, wherever they are, using the devices they prefer -- laptops, desktops, netbooks, smartphones, and tablets.

Today, we’re announcing a sampling of results from the Verizon FiOS Innovation Index: Borderless Lifestyle Survey, the first in a series of tech consumer surveys that will periodically examine trends in connectivity, device adoption and user experiences that are shaping consumers’ lives and driving innovation in the connected media and services industries. The Index will provide insights and explore how we are using advances in technology to live a more connected, borderless lifestyle.

As Detroit and St. Louis or San Francisco (whoever wins) gear up for the start of the World Series, fans across the country are readying their smartphones, tablets and computers. While nearly half of America plans to watch the Fall Classic, some will turn the double play and have a second screen in their hand. Here’s what we found:

42% of U.S. adults plan on watching the World Series games and 9% of viewers plan to watch it online via streaming video

Fans will be arguing on social media with - Nearly 1 out of 4 adults watching the games planning on posting on Facebook - 1 out of 7 planning on posting on Twitter

18-34 year olds will be most active with second screens during the games - 48% will monitor social media - 43% will post reactions on Facebook - 26% will post reactions on Twitter

33% of Americans that watch the World Series plan to monitor sports media responses and reactions during the game

We have some new shows and documentaries to look forward to this week, as well as the final presidential debate and the start of the World Series. A lot to take in! Here’s your look at a selection of sporting events and other programs airing on TV during the coming week.

History is being made at Hofstra University tonight as the candidates for President of the United States once again visit Hempstead, New York. In 2008, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain squared off at the Long Island/New York City school and tonight Obama returns as president to take on Gov. Mitt Romney.

Students have turned out in droves to witness firsthand the massive amount of attention that has and will continue to pour on the university for the second time in four years.

On Monday, Hofstra said that about 300 out of 1,000 audience members will be students.

What about the remaining students? What about students (aged 18+) across the country? How will they watch the debate? We might have an answer...

Everything is getting faster. Be it cars, trains, or flying humans (to just name a few), it seems like every time we look up, there’s some speed record being set. Of course, all of this is not just limited to physical objects and people. Life itself keeps speeding up. Every day, we are expected to do more, to watch more, to read more, to LIVE more in less time!

Fortunately, FiOS is there to make keeping up as easy as pie (which I’m sure is somehow getting faster, too). FiOS is the only major cable provider in the U.S. to provide a fiber to the home (FTTH) connection, a big reason why FiOS recently ranked #1 in internet speeds in testing done by readers of PCMag. With blistering fast download and streaming speeds, let FiOS be your guide in an increasingly accelerated world.

To give you an idea of how fast internet speeds have gotten since the early days of the internet, take a closer look at how much faster download and upload speeds have gotten since 2000:

The following blog was written by Monica Vila, Founder and Chief Technology Mom at www.theonlinemom.com and Verizon at Home contributor. Follow Monica on Twitter at @theonlinemom!

For me, the Holy Grail of mobile entertainment has always been the ability to stream movies and TV shows to my smartphone or tablet whenever and wherever I want them. It could be on a long car ride, a layover at an airport, or just a lazy Sunday morning on the couch. The idea that I can pick up my iPad, my smartphone, or even my daughter’s iPod touch and start watching a favorite show in seconds is what the mobile revolution is all about.

In recent years, streaming services like Netflix, Hulu Plus and Crackle have come close to my fulfilling my mobile entertainment dreams, but I have always shied away from subscription-based options. What I am looking for is an on-demand service where I can tailor everything – including price – to those whenever and wherever entertainment needs.

It turns out that I had the perfect mobile viewing option all along with Flex View, one of the many features available with FiOS TV. Flex View is an on-demand service, which allows you to buy or rent movies or TV shows and then watch them anytime on your TV, computer, smartphone or tablet.

We’ve seen the presidential and vice presidential debates, and we have another one to look forward to this week. If you’re looking for even more political programming, check out the CSPAN Campaign 2012 folder on FiOS TV Video on Demand. You can watch or re-watch the debates and get more insight into the candidates. Look for more VOD suggestions in the “One More Note” section below. Now here’s your look at a selection of sporting events and other programs airing on TV during the coming week.

The following was written by Verizon Chief Sustainability Officer and VP of Service Operations James Gowen. It is also featured on the Verizon Responsibility Blog. Graphic used courtesy Lifecycle Solutions.

Are you thinking about a phone upgrade? Or perhaps replacing that old tube TV with something new this football season?

With the rate of innovation, it seems there is always a technology upgrade available. And that means new electronics are constantly replacing dated models in homes across America. But what happens to these old devices? This sustainability video from Verizon shows the growing problem of e-waste and what we are doing across the United States to help curb the problem.

A recent infographic from Holy Kaw! illustrates the breakdown of e-waste in America, which includes more than one million tons of disposed TVs disposed in one year. That is a lot of TVs to move around each year!

At today’s Verizon Recycling Rally in West Chester PA, we just collected more than 100 dated TVs from a local school, all of which will now stay out of landfills by being recycled.

This past week was all about the presidential debate. Like many of you, I was glued to my TV – and to my smartphone so I could track Twitter at the same time. Did you know that 65% of adults surveyed said that they planned to do the same, watching the debate on TV and with their computer, smartphone or tablet? You can read more about our Verizon survey here. Now on to the week to come. In addition to all of the great shows airing, FiOS has some freebies in store for you. Check out the “One More Note” section below for info on an EPIX free preview that begins today. Here’s your look at a selection of sporting events and other programs airing on TV during the coming week.

In honor of National Cyber Securty Awareness Month and courtesy of our friends at StopThinkConnect.org, here are five tips to help you develop good online safety habits in a nefarious online (and offline) world:

Keep a Clean Machine: Make sure you have the latest security software (like Verizon Internet Security Suite for PC) and operating system updates to defend against threats such as malware, viruses and phishing scams.

Protect Your Personal Information: Passwords should be "long" and "strong." When creating a password, use a combination of capital and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols, and don't use the same password for all of your accounts. Trouble remembering your passwords? Use some old school security! Write them down and keep them locked away in a safe location, just in case.

Connect with Care: The local coffee shop comes in handy when you want to grab a half skim-half soy latte while working on your memoir, but that complimentary Wi-FI can also be a backdoor into your machine for others. When connected to a public hotspot, adjust your security settings accordingly... and make sure no one's looking over your shoulder, too.

Be Web Wise: Think before clicking that bright, flashing banner advertising a "special offer," and never provide any personal information on a site that you don't trust or can't confirm is secure.

Be a Good Online Citizen: The Golden Rule: "Post only about others as you would have them post about you." Let's build a better, more fun and more engaging global digital community together!

Thanks again to StopThinkConnect.org for the great tips. For the complete list of tips and advice on good online safety, click here, and follow them on Twitter at @StaySafeOnline.

Nearly two-thirds (65%) of U.S. adults planning to watch the presidential debates on live TV will do so with a computer, smartphone, or media tablet, in their hands – according to an online survey of 2,319 Americans we conducted through Harris interactive.

Events like the presidential debates are a great example of how live TV viewers are using Internet-powered "second screen" devices and apps to supplement and enrich their television experience. The debates will drive wide-ranging questions and answers that the multiscreen audience will want to quickly research, facts they’ll want to check immediately, and opinions they’ll want to see and share online, with easy access to real-time commentary and analysis.

Manager - Media Relations

Bob stays on top of developments and issues with Verizon’s Consumer and Mass Business segment from his home base in Florida. He has been involved with FiOS since it was first being developed and deployed in 2004.

Manager -- Media Relations

Phil has been extolling the virtues of FiOS ever since he had his Triple Play installed and can’t image how he ever managed without it. He writes about developing technologies that enable him to fuel his addiction to movies and sports whenever he wants, no matter where he is.

Caroline manages the Verizon FiOS Google+ page, capturing the latest in entertainment, technology, sports and everything in between. She loves using social media and the written word to extend the FiOS conversation.